Sizzle is more a drizzle in tech's second wind.

• Position: Lenovo

The Tar Heel electronics industry isn't performing anywhere near the dizzying levels of the 1990s, but no one expects it to any longer. In fact, expectations are so low that many people probably don't realize that the industry is growing. "It may appear glacially slow," Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner says. "But tech is still growing faster than the overall economy."

The slowdown may be part of the industry's maturation. The spurts of the mid- to late 1990s--followed by the collapse in 2001--have been replaced by a more measured, clearheaded approach, and investors are putting more faith in electronics companies, including software makers, than before. "People have come back to their senses that a well-balanced portfolio needs to include tech companies," says Dave Rizzo, CEO of Durham-based NC IDEA, a nonprofit that invests in early-stage startups. "There's a lot of investment money out there that needs to be working for people."

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Much of the $366 million in venture capital garnered by North Carolina companies through the third quarter of 2005 went to biotech or medical-device companies, but they weren't the only big winners. Durhambased Motricity closed on $30 million in venture funding in July. The company, which distributes music, games and other content for cell phones, later bought La Jolla, Calif.-based M7 Networks, which builds networks linking customers, wireless carriers and content publishers.

Tempering the infusion of capital is a belt-tightening mentality. North Carolina companies have begun offshoring some information-technology services. Charlotte-based Wachovia said in 2005 that it expected to save as much as 30% on IT costs by sending work to India. Rival Bank of America had already offshored some IT functions. "I think that it's going to be a bumpy road for the IT consulting field in North Carolina until that all shakes out," says Olin Broadway, executive in residence at UNC Charlotte's College of Information Technology.

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Keeping IT and other electronics jobs in North Carolina has been a major focus of state economic developers. They've given incentives to Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker Dell to build a factory in Winston-Salem and to Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo and Greensboro-based semiconductor maker RF Micro Devices to expand operations here.

Lenovo, which bought IBM's personal-computer business in 2005, will build an $84 million campus in...